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singularity84's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
zenithgrimsbane's review
4.0
lesbians. lesbian mythical creatures. such a lovely cultural based story inspired from something i know by heart- şahname. i LOVED this little fairy tale and i know i will come back to the annotated pages again and again to relive the excitement i had while reading this
idiothan's review
3.0
it was good but i just needed more. it's hard to explain. i do know that i questioned a lot of the author's choices. why did soraya give up her powers in the first fourth of the book? why was she normal for most of the book? why turn azad human if soraya was just gonna get her powers back? but im sure there's reasons for it all so it's fine. however, i do wish that someone close to soraya had died. either her brother or mother or parvaneh, someone needed to die. i felt no strong emotion at the end except relief when her poison returned. most of my favorite books include a major character death because they make me feel a lot so they're memorable. i can see myself forgetting this book quickly. but all in all, it was a good read. really loved the concept of this mythical but still realistic world, it was executed really well and in a mostly non-confusing way. a lot of fantasy books get carried away in their alternate universe and it makes no sense, but gst was excellent in this way. and of course, i loved the subtle sapphic romance. i did feel mislead when soraya started spending a LOT of time with azad but i was relieved when he revealed himself. i really thought the love interest was gonna be laleh so i was surprised when soraya and parvaneh got together, but it felt right.
windermerepeak1's review
Idk, I think I want to go back to it eventually and try again but I just wasn’t vibing with it 😔 and I really wanted to get into it too😔
saracgeib's review
2.0
My favorite part about this story is the world it takes place in, but I wish it had been developed a little more. I found the main character to be needy, indecisive and kind of boring. The plot twists were rather predictable and fell flat, feeling anti-climactic even through the most exciting points of the plot. I would definitely be interested in reading more Persian-inspired stories, and I'd try this author again. Hopefully with more interesting characters!
yarn_chicken's review
3.0
Probably 3.5 stars for me. It was okay! My reading mojo is weird right now. I liked the perspective of a non-European culture.
daameliiie's review
4.0
“Parvaneh seemed to be made of the night. She wore it like a gown, draped over skin that shimmered in the moonlight.”
***
Parvaneh, love of my life, do you mind accepting me as one of your pariks sisters too? I would absolutely love it in every way possible.
Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t like this book— the themes it tries to acknowledge (internal conflict between good and evil), are often simplified and made black or white. But no, the author made us sympathise for every character, even the villain, in some ways. There aren’t good or evil, there are just people who made an error and choose to solve it, and those (just Azas, really) who decided to get keep going that way.
The plot is fine, maybe a bit too slow; what this book really misses is a better writing, perhaps with a bit more of humor, and more developed characters.
Overall I enjoyed it, probably because I had very low expectations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️,75/4
***
Parvaneh, love of my life, do you mind accepting me as one of your pariks sisters too? I would absolutely love it in every way possible.
Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t like this book— the themes it tries to acknowledge (internal conflict between good and evil), are often simplified and made black or white. But no, the author made us sympathise for every character, even the villain, in some ways. There aren’t good or evil, there are just people who made an error and choose to solve it, and those (just Azas, really) who decided to get keep going that way.
The plot is fine, maybe a bit too slow; what this book really misses is a better writing, perhaps with a bit more of humor, and more developed characters.
Overall I enjoyed it, probably because I had very low expectations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️,75/4
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
4.0
It's weird. When I opened my Fairyloot and saw this book, the first thing I asked myself was why the hell this book had somehow escaped my radar. This book sounds and breathes me. This book seems written for me. How had I missed it? Where was all the promo? Why didn't all the promo reach me? Why did I need a bookbox to get this book to me? But well, it did reach me in the end and I couldn't wait to read it.
And this book was exactly what I had hoped it would be. It was in every way an amazing and mesmerizing fairytale with a very strong and powerful message at the very end. I don't wanna tell you too much about the plot, since there are quite a few surprises along the way, but I think the most important themes of this tale were forgiveness, acceptance and finding your own worth when no one else is telling you how remarkable you are.
What I found most interesting was the grayness of the characters. The line between good and bad was incredibly thin. A lot of characters did good things and bad things. They did bad things for good reasons or good things for bad reasons. It made the characters interesting, complicated and layered and it also made all the conflicts between the characters more interesting, because depending on who's point of view you favor you could root for a different outcome. It also means that the characters had a lot of growing to do and I'm glad we got to see that.
And then, last but not least, there was the world, all the different creatures and the mythology. I loved how the author included her inspiration in the back of the book, but I loved it even more how well all elements fitted and how it felt like this was the only way to make them work. Everything felt so vivid and everything was incredibly interesting. Something new was waiting around every corner and small things happening early in the book played bigger roles later. Every little detail, it was all coming back somehow.
I really enjoyed this read and I will now certainly read the other books by Bashardoust too!
And this book was exactly what I had hoped it would be. It was in every way an amazing and mesmerizing fairytale with a very strong and powerful message at the very end. I don't wanna tell you too much about the plot, since there are quite a few surprises along the way, but I think the most important themes of this tale were forgiveness, acceptance and finding your own worth when no one else is telling you how remarkable you are.
What I found most interesting was the grayness of the characters. The line between good and bad was incredibly thin. A lot of characters did good things and bad things. They did bad things for good reasons or good things for bad reasons. It made the characters interesting, complicated and layered and it also made all the conflicts between the characters more interesting, because depending on who's point of view you favor you could root for a different outcome. It also means that the characters had a lot of growing to do and I'm glad we got to see that.
And then, last but not least, there was the world, all the different creatures and the mythology. I loved how the author included her inspiration in the back of the book, but I loved it even more how well all elements fitted and how it felt like this was the only way to make them work. Everything felt so vivid and everything was incredibly interesting. Something new was waiting around every corner and small things happening early in the book played bigger roles later. Every little detail, it was all coming back somehow.
I really enjoyed this read and I will now certainly read the other books by Bashardoust too!
crimsoncor's review
3.0
Liked it, didn't love it. Probably suffers ratingwise from being sandwiched between some other more exceptional books. Especially [b:Nettle & Bone|56179377|Nettle & Bone|T. Kingfisher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1645110008l/56179377._SY75_.jpg|87513158]. This is a nicely done fairy tale reskinning (and definite bonus points for the non-European flavor) with a different take on a compelling female main character. Sometimes it is okay to be a monster. With that said, it does suffer from a bunch of YA tropes where everything is super dramatic and people never actually bother to talk to each other.